Stony Plain Town Council is fighting back against recent historic flooding in the area.

Residents of the community have experienced record rainfall in the last few months. Environment Canada reported 124.9 millimetres in June alone and this is the second highest amount recorded in the community in the last 20 years. It has damaged basements and has also led to some natural gas leaks as well.

“The sheer amount of rain caused challenges for the Town’s infrastructure,” general manager of Planning and Infrastructure Ian McKay said. “We are implementing a plan to limit the risk of this happening in the future.”

The initiative will cost $350,000 in total. About 71 per cent or $250,000 will be for storm water mitigation such as upgrading existing systems to handle more fluid and the remaining $100,000 will be for reinforcing manholes to prevent sanitary flooding.

Town fire chief Trevor Mistal said previously not much can be done now when this type of damage gets into a person’s home.

“We cannot do a lot to help when there is sewage backup in a basement,” he said in July. “We did witness several homes with [water just pouring on in].”

July 8 and 15 in town were one in 200 year events. The first storm had an intensity of 126 mm per hour of rain and the second had a 123 mm intensity. A Town report recommended the actions cited earlier as well as budgeting for rain gauges in 2020 to attain more accurate storm data. This aligns with a master storm water management plan passed earlier this year.

It recommended developing future neighbourhoods with water management in mind. Coun. Linda Matties said in October 2018 they were not always accounted for in the past, but are now as regulations and policies changed.

“Older buildings were built with no understanding about the needs for storm water,” she said. “We have learned how significant it is and, when we develop moving forward, we are always including storm water in plans.”

Stony Plain has also applied for assistance for public and private damage from the provincial government and is listening to resident concerns about flooding. Mayor William Choy says experts will help prevent further issues.

“This summer’s flooding has reaffirmed the importance of storm water infrastructure for our community,” he said in a press release. “We need to be proactive and move forward with upgrades to the system based on recommendations.”

Council also heard a report on the ongoing campaign to get town residents to switch to an electronic utility billing system. The total has increased to 32.3 per cent of paying customers from 28.7 per cent and those behind the campaign were authorized by council to ramp up their efforts to encourage more switching.